austinstorm's review against another edition
2.0
What a great idea for a comic book. Ayn Rand is already a larger-than-life villain, seemingly directly motivated by trauma she experienced early in life and completely uncompromising in her advocacy of 'selfishness'.
The book is divided into three parts. The first is a biography of Rand, which does a decent job of condensing things. The second is an overview of the 2008 financial collapse, which is also great.
Where things fall apart is in the third section, which attempts to be balanced in its presentation of the differences between liberals and conservatives, but feels forced and odd - like he's trying to assure us that he really understands conservatives so that he can lay the blame for the entire financial crisis at their feet.
It's frustrating because there are so many great contradictions in the life of Rand - her fierce advocacy for abortion (in the name of self-interest, of course) and her denunciation of feminism. And in the financial crisis - the selfishness of bankers, and the selfish entitlement of the 'American dream' of home ownership. But the author is ultimately too ideological to get beyond white hats and black hats.
Finding ideology in your comics is like getting unsweetened shredded wheat as your breakfast cereal.
The worst part of the book, unfortunately, is the format. This didn't need to be a comic book. Apart from a few standout moments, it's just narration. The compositions are all the same, and are very flat. I wasn't expecting the comic version of the 9/11 commission report, but this could've been so much better.
I get the need to be reductionistic, but there's so much pathos in the life of Rand. This attempts to get at it in a few places (her husband's marginalization) in a Chris Ware-esque way, but it's unsuccessful.
The book is divided into three parts. The first is a biography of Rand, which does a decent job of condensing things. The second is an overview of the 2008 financial collapse, which is also great.
Where things fall apart is in the third section, which attempts to be balanced in its presentation of the differences between liberals and conservatives, but feels forced and odd - like he's trying to assure us that he really understands conservatives so that he can lay the blame for the entire financial crisis at their feet.
It's frustrating because there are so many great contradictions in the life of Rand - her fierce advocacy for abortion (in the name of self-interest, of course) and her denunciation of feminism. And in the financial crisis - the selfishness of bankers, and the selfish entitlement of the 'American dream' of home ownership. But the author is ultimately too ideological to get beyond white hats and black hats.
Finding ideology in your comics is like getting unsweetened shredded wheat as your breakfast cereal.
The worst part of the book, unfortunately, is the format. This didn't need to be a comic book. Apart from a few standout moments, it's just narration. The compositions are all the same, and are very flat. I wasn't expecting the comic version of the 9/11 commission report, but this could've been so much better.
I get the need to be reductionistic, but there's so much pathos in the life of Rand. This attempts to get at it in a few places (her husband's marginalization) in a Chris Ware-esque way, but it's unsuccessful.
ellelovesbook's review against another edition
4.0
Having enjoyed The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, and Anthem, Ayn Rand was one of my favorite authors--until I read this book. In The Fountainhead, I found Howard Roark's character to be endearing and refreshing as he continued to stick to his puritanical ideals of architecture and refusal to succumb to society's stale standards of life. Selfishness, narrow mindedness, and lack of endorsement to society's standards are great a character archetype in a novel. But the philosophy of Rand's novels extended to her personal life too. She believed it was a battle of individualism versus collectivism, and a central government was her nemesis. Rand's coined philosophy of objectivism, putting the individual above all, gathered a cult-like following, including none other than Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve for 19 years (1987 - 2006).
Alan Greenspan and Ayn Rand were close friends for over 30 years, having written books together and co-hosted lectures at the NBI, the institute founded to promote objectivism by one of Rand's followers. In 1966 Greenspan wrote 3 essays for Rand's anthology, in which he equated government regulation with a breakdown of society's morals. In his view, there was no need for the securities and exchange commission, or the food and drug administration. He argued all the regulations which protect the public from business scams are unnecessary, as the damage of a reputation is enough to keep business legitimate. This is the crux of the issue. Greenspan's libertarian ideals and failure to regulate the banking system as the chairman of the Federal Reserve led us straight into the financial crash of 2008.
It is a ruse to believe an unregulated financial system will naturally channel money to its best uses, or that bankers' concern for their reputation will prevent them from partaking in fraudulent business. Free markets don't lead us to personal freedom, but to corporate freedom, which has proven over the past thirty years to pollute the environment, steal from honest people, and oppress the less fortunate.
Besides Rand's ludicrous philosophy of objectivism (which one could make a case was a major impetus to the financial crash of 2008), she was not a good person. Shocking, I know right. Although her philosophy was fervently supported by her cult-like followers, anyone who argued against her ideas was immediately exiled from the group. She also began an affair with one of her students, despite both of them being married, despite her being 25 years his senior. Having developed a business and founded the NBI together, Rand discovered her student Branden was having another affair and refused her proposal to be together, she exiled him from the group, publicly slandered him, and ended all their businesses together. Doesn't sound like a person I'd want to do business with, be friends with, or even admire as a writer or philosopher.
It's worth noting that Greenspan apologized for his ill-advised actions before a 2008 House Committee hearing. In it he said, "I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically of banks and others, were such that they were capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms." Too little too late.
Although Rand's books and style of writing are entertaining for fiction, there's no place for her philosophy in reality. Taxation is the price we pay for civilization. Selfishness is not a virtue. Altruism is a noble cause.
Alan Greenspan and Ayn Rand were close friends for over 30 years, having written books together and co-hosted lectures at the NBI, the institute founded to promote objectivism by one of Rand's followers. In 1966 Greenspan wrote 3 essays for Rand's anthology, in which he equated government regulation with a breakdown of society's morals. In his view, there was no need for the securities and exchange commission, or the food and drug administration. He argued all the regulations which protect the public from business scams are unnecessary, as the damage of a reputation is enough to keep business legitimate. This is the crux of the issue. Greenspan's libertarian ideals and failure to regulate the banking system as the chairman of the Federal Reserve led us straight into the financial crash of 2008.
It is a ruse to believe an unregulated financial system will naturally channel money to its best uses, or that bankers' concern for their reputation will prevent them from partaking in fraudulent business. Free markets don't lead us to personal freedom, but to corporate freedom, which has proven over the past thirty years to pollute the environment, steal from honest people, and oppress the less fortunate.
Besides Rand's ludicrous philosophy of objectivism (which one could make a case was a major impetus to the financial crash of 2008), she was not a good person. Shocking, I know right. Although her philosophy was fervently supported by her cult-like followers, anyone who argued against her ideas was immediately exiled from the group. She also began an affair with one of her students, despite both of them being married, despite her being 25 years his senior. Having developed a business and founded the NBI together, Rand discovered her student Branden was having another affair and refused her proposal to be together, she exiled him from the group, publicly slandered him, and ended all their businesses together. Doesn't sound like a person I'd want to do business with, be friends with, or even admire as a writer or philosopher.
It's worth noting that Greenspan apologized for his ill-advised actions before a 2008 House Committee hearing. In it he said, "I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically of banks and others, were such that they were capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms." Too little too late.
Although Rand's books and style of writing are entertaining for fiction, there's no place for her philosophy in reality. Taxation is the price we pay for civilization. Selfishness is not a virtue. Altruism is a noble cause.
karenchase's review against another edition
5.0
This is an excellent graphic bio of Ayn Rand, about whom I had a general knowledge but nothing deeper than that, and the effect her philosophy has had on the world, particularly economic and political systems. The author/artist points out several times the paradoxes present in The worldview of Rand and her disciples, and the havoc they have wreaked, particularly the e sonic crisis of 2008. I’ve consumed a lot of media about that event and its aftermath and big chunks of it remain oblique to me, but everything I read makes it a little clearer. This book goes on to describe the current state of politics, particularly in the US and UK, and how screwed we are as the world moves ever right-ward. It analyzes the differences between the right and left, characterizing the left as curious, empathetic and flexible (and diminishing), and the right as, well, everything opposite of those things. Self-serving, accusatory and fearful of change (and growing). While books like this give me insight into the world I’m living in, they also make me angry and afraid, and hopeless. I take heart that such complex stories can be told simply in a graphic format.
lonecayt's review against another edition
4.0
I never did much like Ayn Rand, and now I have plenty of reasons to trot out of anyone ever asks me why.
mklafountain's review against another edition
4.0
This was excellent. I don’t know much about Ayn Rand except for the fact that a boy I dated in college had one of her books on his nightstand (major red flag). The 3 large topics in the book went from individual aka rand, situational aka the 2008 crisis, and societal aka our 2 parties in the US. The last section was so informative and smart I couldn’t even begin to paste quotes because it would essentially be the entire chapter.
oall_reads's review against another edition
3.0
The first 2/3 were interesting and informative, The final third was so unbearably biased that it was hard to read.
I really enjoyed the bits with Ayn Rand‘s biography and the explanation of the recession of 2008. He covers her childhood and later life in such a way that you get a really good context for her philosophical development. The storytelling was compelling and he did a decent job of breaking down complicated financial concepts that most people are not familiar with (including myself). I feel like I learned something and I appreciate that
But it kind of falls apart in the last third. The obvious left leaning bias made it hard to take his conclusion seriously. All liberals as altruistic, empathetic, and reasonable creatures while all conservatives are stupid, hate-mongering, paranoid maniacs. Also, only conservatives ever experience confirmation bias. Allllrighty then.
It also felt like he tried to tie in other issues, like immigration, a bit haphazardly and that made the final thrust of his argument a little less tidy.
I think people in general are good, and most of us would help someone in need. I think the key difference between how conservative vs. liberal altruism is executed is this: liberals tend to be more comfortable with the government being their middle man, and conservatives rather do it for themselves. Conservatives tend not to trust the government to take their money and do something good with it, they would rather donate directly to charity or do the good themselves. That doesn’t make conservatives Randian monsters; it just makes them wary of the government’s ability to do things well. That’s a pragmatic judgment, and not a “selfish philosophy” as Cunningham puts it
I really enjoyed the bits with Ayn Rand‘s biography and the explanation of the recession of 2008. He covers her childhood and later life in such a way that you get a really good context for her philosophical development. The storytelling was compelling and he did a decent job of breaking down complicated financial concepts that most people are not familiar with (including myself). I feel like I learned something and I appreciate that
But it kind of falls apart in the last third. The obvious left leaning bias made it hard to take his conclusion seriously. All liberals as altruistic, empathetic, and reasonable creatures while all conservatives are stupid, hate-mongering, paranoid maniacs. Also, only conservatives ever experience confirmation bias. Allllrighty then.
It also felt like he tried to tie in other issues, like immigration, a bit haphazardly and that made the final thrust of his argument a little less tidy.
I think people in general are good, and most of us would help someone in need. I think the key difference between how conservative vs. liberal altruism is executed is this: liberals tend to be more comfortable with the government being their middle man, and conservatives rather do it for themselves. Conservatives tend not to trust the government to take their money and do something good with it, they would rather donate directly to charity or do the good themselves. That doesn’t make conservatives Randian monsters; it just makes them wary of the government’s ability to do things well. That’s a pragmatic judgment, and not a “selfish philosophy” as Cunningham puts it
giantarms's review against another edition
3.0
Ayn Rand really was a terrible person. But she was a human one. Who among us isn't terrible? She just happened to find herself in a country who appreciated her particular brand of terribleness.
I think the author of this book said they didn't even put her in the title in European countries because nobody knows who she is over there. Good job, Europe!
I think the author of this book said they didn't even put her in the title in European countries because nobody knows who she is over there. Good job, Europe!
cecilie_who_reads's review against another edition
3.0
A good explanation, and with pictures, of important issues, and also of an ideology that seems Random (ha ha) at best.